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braggadocio

[brag-uh-doh-shee-oh]
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noun, plural brag·ga·do·ci·os.
  1. empty boasting; bragging.
  2. a boasting person; braggart.
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Origin of braggadocio

after Braggadocchio, boastful character in Spenser's Faerie Queene (1590), apparently a pseudo-Italian coinage based on brag
Related formsbrag·ga·do·ci·an, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for braggadocios

Historical Examples

  • He had set them down as a set of landlubbers and braggadocios, and was disposed to treat them accordingly.

    Astoria

    Washington Irving

British Dictionary definitions for braggadocios

braggadocio

noun plural -os
  1. vain empty boasting
  2. a person who boasts; braggart
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Word Origin

C16: from Braggadocchio, name of a boastful character in Spenser's Faerie Queene; probably from braggart + Italian -occhio (augmentative suffix)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for braggadocios

braggadocio

n.

Spenser's coinage, 1590, as a name for his personification of vainglory, from brag, with augmentative ending by analogy to the Italian words then in vogue in England. In general use by 1594 for "an empty swaggerer;" of the talk of such persons, from 1734.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper